Boy, Caretaker Hurt When Metal Gate Collapses in Brooklyn

A woman and a young boy were hurt when a metal security gate fell on them in Brooklyn, authorities said. Brynn Gingras reports. (Published Friday, June 8, 2012)

A woman and a young boy were hurt when a metal security gate fell on them in Brooklyn late Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The incident happened at about 4 p.m. in front of a veterinarian center near President Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope.

The 16-foot-wide roll-down gate frame somehow separated from the building and struck the two on the sidewalk.

Bystanders said the gate cracked the woman's head and crushed the boy's leg. A store worker who was nearby said she heard the gate crashing down, followed by the sounds of glass breaking and people screaming.

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When the worker, Bethany O'Grady of Bushwick, came out of the store, she "saw a woman on her back covered in blood and a 4-year-old child being held by somebody else. He was crying inconsolably, and he had blood on his leg."

The hurt woman, believed to be the child's nanny, passed out when she was hit but regained consciousness before she was loaded in an ambulance, O'Grady said.

Both victims were taken to Lutheran Hospital and are in serious condition. They have not been identified.

The city's buildings department said the building owner was cited in March 2002 for allowing the exterior to deteriorate, and again in 2009 for bricks that fell off the facade and onto the sidewalk.

A representative for the building said it was the tenants' responsibility to maintain the metal gate. A veterinarian who worked in the office declined to comment.

"It's pretty terrifying to think you could just be walking down the street and all of a sudden, an awning could fall on your head," said O'Grady.

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